HEALTHY EATING

Starting tomorrow I will try to start eating healthier than I have been over the last few months. Stress has caused a lot of emotional eating. This usually involves whatever unhealthy snack is around for the kids. I normally eat very healthy. I love veggies, salmon and other good for you food.

I guess I will have to venture out into the yukky outdoors in search for my favorite petite or baby green beans that are fresh. I will live with frozen if I must. I love to steam them but not so much they are colorless and limp. I like them to still have some crunch. I saute chopped up garlic and sometimes green onions if I have them in olive oil. Once my green beans are steamed I then toss them in with the olive oil, garlic, etc., and then I will throw in a few sesame seeds if the mood strikes. I LOVE these.

I found fresh ones once at Sam's. There were two packages bundled together. Jackpot baby. I cooked them in my favorite way. Yummy. The next day I went into the kitchen and my hubby had thrown them in a pot of water and was proceeding to boil them into what I can't stand.... cooked to death, flavorless and mushy vegetables. I went into orbit. It would have gotten really bad if I knew a good criminal defense attorney. I don't know any. Needless to say his idea of cooking vegetables and mine are on the opposite ends of the spectrum.

My hubby is always trying to do nice things for me. However, it usually doesn't go over so well. It is like...I love you but don't. Like cleaning out the fridge. He threw away a bag of shelled pecans. "But they have been in there for years" was his defense. It was February and I had bought them in December when I was doing my marathon fudge making. That is when you "sigh" deeply and try to remember that in the scope of things it isn't so major. Frustrating...YES. But not major.

He has also made the mistake of trying to take over in the kitchen when I am cooking something. "I just want to help" he says. If it was really bad, like adding something he shouldn't have...then I turn it fully over to him. It is now his. I am done.

Sometimes I can't help but laugh about it. How can you be angry, at least for too long, at someone who only has good intentions. Actually it is very easy. I just try to leave the room before my anger shrapnel takes out someone.

You know....this is also a good time for chocolate........

MY THANKSGIVING

I had a very relaxing day yesterday. Big Baby Girl ordered a fried turkey. I would rather have had a smoked one but she ordered it. When my hubby got home with it I was shocked at how small it seemed. Oh well. But for the cost of that turkey I thought we could have had great steaks. It isn't like I am this big fan of turkey. It really isn't my thing.

I got up and made two pans of cornbread for my standard cornbread dressing. It is the most simple thing but my daughters seem to love it. I make the best buttermilk cornbread using a store bought cornbread mix like White Lilly or Aunt Jemima. I use buttermilk instead of milk. I add to the cooked and finely crumbled cornbread lightly cooked one large onion and several stalks of celery. I make a liquid mixture of two beaten eggs along with two boxes of low sodium chicken broth. I add pepper to that as well. I poor that in and mix all of it very well. To save time and washing dishes I do all of this in the pan I am cooking it in. I then add more broth if needed. I cover in foil and bake at 400 for an hour and then remove the foil and cook until it gets golden brown on top. Nothing fancy at all.


I made the standard green bean casserole. BBG (Big Baby Girl) made a dish called Spinach Maria and it was good along with a corn casserole. Basically this is what we had. Since we are all on crazy schedules we really didn't eat together. BBG and her friend ate, I had a small helping of everything later because the mimosas were starting to get to me. DH ate late in the evening. Same as he always does.

I took a few snapshots playing around. It was fun. I have had this camera almost two years and I still don't know all of what it will do. I took some shots of DH, BGG and #1Grandson. Oh and my little boy Oliver. Best photos I have ever gotten of my little pooch. He is a trip. All in all we had a nice relaxing day.

OKAY I WATCH TOO MUCH TV

I was browsing around and found this site. It intrigued me because I used to live in SpringHill Florida. I LOVE the Bravo channel and couldn't get it until I moved a month ago. These are my favorite shows. I LOVE Jeff Lewis and Christian Siriano. Christian is SO cute. I also enjoy watching the Housewives of Orange County and Atlanta. Anyway... I found this card that Natalie created on her blog... Go check her out. So Fierce.......

FL Home Blog: Is it too early to give you your card?

THANKSGIVING AND FAMILY

I have read several blogs with people making fun (I hope) of their family that is coming to visit. I have seen some that basically attacks their mothers. I know that it is probably just to make for entertaining reading. I find it amusing but at the same time it makes me uncomfortable.

I lost my mother in 1992. A few days ago was the 16th anniversary of her death. It was very hard on all of us to lose her so soon. I would love to have my mother over for Thanksgiving. No we did not always have a harmonious relationship. We almost never agreed on some things. But hey... she came from a different time than I did. Her insecurities and inability to support herself in a descent lifestyle made me what I am today.

I vowed that I would never be as insecure as her. I knew I never ever wanted to be dependent on anyone. Not to say there weren't short periods of time that I did. Thankfully I learned to fight and claw and work and slave to get to a point in my life where I can safely say I can support myself without someone elses help. I owe all of that to my mother.

I never faulted my mother or anyone else for that matter for their beliefs. I feel that we are all entitled to feel as we do no matter how uneducated a belief I may feel that it is. Some people find change hard and next to impossible. They are not comfortable with it. I am. My life is one change, move, event, learning experience after another. They are not always pleasurable. I do feel that in life we should all always strive to improve, better, educate, enlighten ourselves. I think that if you stop growing you are just going backwards.

Now that I have gotten that off my chest I do hope that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.

FREE RICE

Hi All....

Very tired today. I wanted to post this link that tests your vocabulary and also allows you to help the hungry. It tests your vocabulary skills and with each win they donate rice. This is from the UN World Food Program.

Please check it out..... http://www.freerice.com/

Thanks all

SUNDAY FUNDAY

What a day. It started early as usual. I woke up at 4ish. Daughter #1 wasn't home from work yet so I couldn't go back to sleep. That poor girl had 4 hours sleep in 2 days. I kept thinking I would get a nap. Good thing I didn't try because DH would have woken me up and then I would have been angry. He kept calling for directions.

I did get caught up on last season of the Real Housewives of Orange County. That was fun. What a life these people live. I had my favorite French Onion soup for lunch. I make it myself. Have you priced it in the can? Unbelievable. So I went for broke, cut up onions, probably around 5, chopped up a few cloves of garlic, cooked those in olive oil. Once cooked I put in two containers of beef broth, 3 beef bouillon cubes, cause the broth just doesn't have enough flavor to me. Then I added some Merlot. Yummy. I took crusty French bread, sliced it, put olive oil on it and put it in a skillet to kind of toast it. Throw that bread on top of the soup, lay a slice of Swiss cheese and nuke in the microwave long enough to melt it. Damn good eating. I don't know what the fat, carb, calorie content of that is. Probably why I am still a hog. Oink

Oh well. Tomorrow I really have to get serious about the diet. I hate them. I have to lose some weight and start exercising. When we moved I sold my stationary bike. I wish I hadn't. I could ride that sucker for an hour without hesitation if I had a good book to read. It let me exercise without thinking about it. I know I have got to get off my fat arse and get moving.

Oh well, can you see it? Me laying on the side of the road, gasping and Screaming for Chocolate...

MY HEART IS BREAKING

How ironic..... I write the post about BFF's and this morning I get the word......

Mrs B is going to Iraq. Her DH told her this morning. That means very soon she will go to Houston for two weeks and then zip off to Iraq. I am going to absolutely hate it. HATE IT. We have already started discussing what she needs to take. Of course she will ship it to DH and it will be there when she gets there. Let's see.... there will be several cases of peanut butter crackers, the 1000 thread count sheets, uhhh... I forget the rest. Thank goodness they already have diet coke there. She can't afford to send enough cases of that stuff to keep her going for 4 or more months. She probably won't be home again until next April or May.

I think the hard part will be living with Mr B again. He has been over there for 2 years. When he comes home she is happy but then.... he starts grating at her nerves because she is used to being alone, except for the pooch. That is another thing...leaving the pooch. He has been her baby for 6 years. She is already heart broken thinking about it. When I thought of pooch I felt bad. I had only been thinking about myself.

Pooch will stay with Mrs B's sister. He loves her. Actually wanted to sleep with her when she visited recently. So that part is great. I wanted to be able to keep him. I kept him for a week this summer when Mr and Mrs B went to Mexico when Mr B came home for 2 weeks. My silky terrier was ssssssoooooooo excited that he had someone to play with....NOT. Pooch doesn't like dogs. He likes cats. Things would have been fine except my furry son wouldn't leave him alone. He wanted to play. He doesn't understand why Pooch didn't want to play.

I am sitting here wondering who will be my phone every day friend. Boo hoo..... My "Wild Child" in Tennessee is too busy with her Brady Bunch family. Mrs Quilter in Texas is a really good friend and she sees my complaints in chats but I don't want to scare the woman off. Plus she hasn't gone through similar situations like Mrs B has. Gladys in Louisiana is a good friend. She hears the complaints ever week or two or maybe longer. I don't like to constantly complain. Sometimes I do but just to Mrs B. Gladys and I have other things to discuss. Such as what a wonderful daughter she has.

Mrs B's daughter is possessed. She makes my problem child seem like an angel. Her daughter told her aunt, Mrs B's other sister, that her father was not the father of her or her brother and that her mother was having an affair and spending all Mr B's money he is making in Iraq. She also said that Mrs B won't let Mr B come home. That is just some of it. I think you get the picture.

Anyway, it is going to be hard and I will probably do a lot of Screaming For Chocolate.

BFF'S

Best Friends......How can anyone live without them. If I didn't have my "sista's" to talk to I would not have made it this far......

I have several BFF's. I have known Mrs B for 10 years. We have gone years without seeing each other, but we rarely go a week without talking to each other. As a matter of fact we rarely go a day without talking. Her DH is in Iraq working for a company. He has been there for two years. It looks like Mrs P will be there soon as well. I don't know how I will survive without speaking to her on a daily basis. I told her she had to learn how to use instant messaging. It will totally suck.....

We are a lot alike in the sense that we are practical, logical, ambitious, etc. We met through work. She was a Supervisor and I was the Admin to that department head and the 8 supervisors there. I liked her right away. My/our boss was so ugly to her. It was pure jealousy. Mrs P has two degrees, is tall, blond and gorgeous. Boss lady was short, fat, immature, had a GED, maybe, and was very mean spirited. If you kissed her ass she loved you. Just an FYI.... I am not an ass kisser. Neither was Mrs P. She loved another Supervisor I will call Mr G. She told me once at lunch that he made her feel so good. I said yes he is a really big brown noser. TeeHee.... I gave him a coffee cup for Christmas that had "Hinelicky Maneuver" on it with a guy saying something very brown nosey. I don't think he thought it was funny. But hell yeah I did.

Back to my BFF...She has weathered some storms and so have I. They were similar and we were there for each other. When I started going through my ordeal it felt good to know the feelings I was having weren't uncommon. She made me feel better because she had felt the same things. It let me know I wasn't a horrible person. Or maybe we were both horrible. LOL...

I have a BFF that lives in KY. We have known each other for around 14 years. I call her "Wild Child", "Santa's Favorite HO HO HO", "Bitch" and "SISTA". Oh and we also call her "Martha Stewart Jr." We have gone through some tough times that is for sure. She has this really bad habit of picking lousy husbands. She married one and had twin daughters. The ass had her put in a mental ward days after getting out of the hospital from a really bad C-section. He went to an attorney and tried to take her house, bank accounts, etc. He thought he would take the kids and get her house, her income and he could lay up on his lazy pot smoking ass. My DH and I had to take off work and get her out. That was a nightmare. Well that ass finally got disability for being mentally unable to handle the stress of an average job. Good thing is she knows she will get a regular check every month from SSI instead of his piddly 325.00 monthly which didn't come close to covering day care for twins. He is a pig and I hate him.

She recently married again after a very short relationship. She had been divorced for probably 9 years. Don't know how that will work out. His wife just died from a very long illness and had been institutionalized for years with it. Yep... they were seeing each other before she passed. He has 4 children at home, an 8K square foot house, loads of credit card debt and 11 cars. She is spending what money she had left from selling her home on groceries every week. She went from her and two kids to a household of 8. Yowza. This one has lots of patience so I am really hoping it works for her. My bud does expect perfection though. You know how that is... ain't happening.

I love her though. She would give you the world. Sometimes I want to choke the living shit out of her but I still love her. I tell her often what a bitch she is.... best buds can do that you know.

I have a BFF that was my bud in high school. We lost touch over the years. Last year I had someone I went to high school with that was two years younger than me, had always had a crush on me, contact me through myspace. I never could place him. I looked in my yearbooks and he wasn't there. It got me to thinking about my friend, code name Gladys, no that isn't her real name. But I did call her that.... I called her parents phone number and low and behold it was her number. When I had to drive to Dallas for a company thing I stopped in Louisiana for a visit with my favorite aunt who was dying and has since passed. I called Gladys and we had lunch together. It was really nice seeing her. Funny how after all these years of not seeing each other, probably more than twenty, that we have so much in common. I love her to death. She is so "matter of fact". No bull shit, no poison, no fluff. I love it. I love her.

I have another BFF that is in Texas. We have never actually met. We chat almost daily on yahoo. She is kinda sorta a relative but not really. I have half brothers on my fathers side. Those half brothers are her half brothers on her mothers side. Confused yet? I told her we need to just tell people we are cousins. It will cut down on the confusion that way.

I will call her Mrs Quilter. She is always making quilts, crocheting blankets for babies. She did some for charity and gave them to victims of those in the hurricanes in Texas recently. She is so sweet, kind, caring, thoughtful. I think she is the kind of person that people think they can run over. I have news for you... she may seem that way because she is so soft spoken but... and my recently departed brother said "She will tell you how the cow ate the cabbage". I often say that people should not mistake my kindness for weakness. You "F" with me and you better run baby run. Actually I am not that vicious but I won't take any crap.

Mrs Quilter is a happy person. She takes her pooch out for walks, is currently living near the beach, I am jealous, and is always doing nice things for people. She is a good friend to have. We chat daily about the good things and bad things. She is good about saying prayers for you, Lord knows I need them. It is nice to have that friendship so available. Her daughter is getting married in August. Me and my brother in Chicago are playing with the idea of going. I would love to see Alaska. He has visited Mrs Quilter in Alaska when she lived there before. But who knows.... that is a long way off.

BFF's are the greatest thing in the world...... They really help me get through my life just being there to listen on the phone... or chat online and when I am Screaming For Chocolate.............

RETARDED NERD HERE

Okay. I am back. I tried putting this blog on my .com but it didn't work. So it will not be on my server until someone (not me) figures it out. I know my way around computers pretty well but sometimes when it involves things like putting your blog on your .com and it says 5 minutes.... it takes me 5 hours. Simply because I don't know what the hell they are talking about. Open mouth.... insert chocolate.

Cutie Tootie and I are listening to music from his guitar. That child loves to dance. He hears music and he starts breaking it down. Swinging those hips. We had a diaper change this morning and two minutes later we had a poo to clean. Hello... too much diaper duty. DH is still in bed. Lucky bastard. I wish I could sleep. But hey... it is after 10:00am.

Did good on the diet thing this morning. I made an omelet with 2 pieces of Canadian bacon, kalamata olives and Italian cheese blend. Probably not the best for a diet but better than some mornings. Hopefully today nothing major will happen to give me an excuse to Stress EAT.

Darling Boy, grandson #1, ended up with 4 stitches. Didn't seem to phase him though. Of course this morning I had to use a cattle prod to get him moving. I explained that this was why he was late the other day and ran into the brick building and cracked his head. I think it is a control thing with him. In the mornings he knows what he has to do but has to be prodded several times to get it done. He moves like a 70 year old. In the evenings I have to peel him off the ceilings. And take a nerve pill or several cocktails.... ahhhh.

Cutie Tootie is going through boxes in my office. No I haven't gotten everything unpacked yet. So shoot me. Can I just get a vacation here? I need a salt water injection. I need the balmy breezes of Southern Florida. I need to go live at Ernest's house in Key West. I want to go back. I went in February. It was great. Except for someone partying all weekend and getting sick and missing three days of work and making me have to sit at my laptop and do their job. I can't believe I didn't stroke out because I was so mad. I mean hello..... We paid almost 300 a night to be there and I didn't want to spend it working. That so sucked. But other than that.... absolutely MARVELOUS.

I took loads of pics. I still haven't read my camera manual. I know it can do so much more than what I use it for. I really need to experiment. I think I want a digital SLR but I am not sure I will know what to do with it. I took one course in college in photography, before digital cameras, and I had a hard time remembering all that f stop stuff. I still have the book. I guess I need to like... you know.... read it again.

But... anyway... I did get a few great shots. Let me know what you think.

This old truck was in the Everglades. I think the town may have been Okeechobee. But don't get me to lying. I thought this was an awesome shot.

One shot I didn't get was because going through the Everglades there are no places to pull over. There were power lines, maybe 4-5, with nothing but buzzards on them. Probably like 50 of them. We couldn't stop because there were cars behind us and no shoulder to pull over on. Dang it.

This is one of my favorite shots. I love silhouette shots. I thought it was cool to get a shot of the moon through the palm tree fronds. I really enjoyed all the trees and flowers that grow in that region. I found trees that had the most interesting bark. One type of tree that no one could tell me the name of grew all over itself. Kind of like the ones in Hawaii that the limbs will shoot out "roots" that grow down to the ground. This may be the same variety.

I absolutely LOVED Ernest Hemingway's old home. I wanted to stay forever. The family of his wife at the time bought this house for them. When they divorced the wife kept the home. I love the tall windows that lets in the fantastic breezes. I love the porches especially on the second floor. I loved all the vegetation around the home. I wanted to stay forever. Of course this was in February. They said you do not want to be there in September. It is probably like being in Mexico. Below is a vignette that I liked a lot. The pot has been converted to a water fountain. The colors of the patina caused by water and mold are fantastic. I really think the bamboo is great. I want to do a painting based on this photograph. Also notice the porch off the master bedroom on the second floor. It was so cool up there. Just awesome. Below that is a portrait of Ernest. He was an interesting person. He was a drunk but interesting.

I have photos of his writing studio. I loved that they had all his original things in the room just as he had left it. Since there were photos and paintings of it that wasn't hard to recreate. I would kill for that space. It was an upstairs room over an area that is now the gift shop. When I get a chance I will scan in the items I got there for a look see.

I could write about Key West FOREVER.... just dreaming of being there again. It is such an artsy place, full of creative people..... and loads of partying to boot.

Well while I dream of renting a cottage there some day.... as if.... I will be screaming for chocolate....

SHREEEEAAAAAAKKKKKKKKK

Oh bloody hell.....

It has been three months... can't believe it. So I really have had too much going on in my life to even think about losing weight. It has been pure survival mode all the way...

So today was the day. I got up and had my usual couple of cups of coffee loaded with my fav hazelnut creamer and my teaspoon of raw sugar. I had two poached eggs, turkey bacon and one slice of whole wheat toast with Smart Balance. Good job.....

Then... "IT" hit the fan. My darling dear grandson, who was late for school because he couldn't tear his eyes away from Sponge Bob, fell and cracked his head open. Lovely. My darling oldest had to take him to the emergency room while I watch cutie tootie, my youngest grandson. Soooooo I am STRESS eating..........AGAIN.

Little cutie tootie is trotting around with his guitar that plays fun songs such as Love Shack, Thing Called Love and other rock songs...he lovesssssss it. He busted me eating Pringles. He said "eat, eat". He is 21 months old and was 7 weeks premature. So I had to bribe him. I put him in his high chair with goldfish. Shame on me. Well. At least I cooked pancakes this morning for the darling grandsons. I put wheat germ in it to give them that extra something they need.

They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. LOL... I so wanted to be good today. I am currently eyeballing a bag of chocolate covered peanuts. I don't know if I can resist.

Dammit to hell..........I am screaming for chocolate.